1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to compositions, methods, systems/devices and media for maintaining a harvested (extracorporeal) animal organ in a functioning and viable state prior to transplantation or reimplantation. In particular, the present invention relates to compositions, methods, systems/devices and media for maintaining a harvested human or human-compatible organ in a functioning and viable state. The organ may also be assessed in such state or resuscitated after death.
The present invention also relates to an organ perfusion apparatus, and more particularly, to a perfusion apparatus and method and chemical compositions for extending the preservation period of an organ which has been harvested.
2. Discussion
While having many embodiments, the present invention is directed to systems, devices (apparatuses), methods and media for preserving organs in near ideal conditions and physiological states. This allows the organs to be stored for longer periods of time, reduces degradation of high energy phosphates during storage, reduces ischemia and reperfusion injury, and overall improves outcome. The increase in storage periods in a normal or near normal functioning state also provides certain advantages, for example, organs can be transported greater distances and there is an increased time for testing and evaluation of the organs.
It is estimated that one of every four patients listed for cardiac transplantation dies awaiting the availability of a suitable donated organ. While some progress has been made in making more donor organs available, the development of successful techniques for donor heart preservation has not kept pace with the demand for cardiac transplantation. With improvements in patient survival and the development of new immunosuppressive agents, heart transplantation has become more feasible, making the problem of organ supply even more critical. Despite the acceptable clinical results obtained with the current donor organ and donor heart preservation techniques, one of the major challenges that remains is the current inability to safely preserve the donor heart for more than four hours. Extending the preservation period beyond four hours using current preservation techniques significantly increases the risk of organ failure during or after transplantation; this failure correlates with the period and technique of storage. This four hour limitation also restricts the geographic area from which donor hearts can be transported for successful transplantation. Moreover, current methods of storing or preserving the heart or other organs make it impossible to fully or meaningfully test or evaluate the stored organ due to the storage of the organ in a non-functioning and/or hypothermic state.
Generally, current donor organ preservation protocols do not attempt to recreate an in vivo-like physiologic state for harvested organs. Instead, they utilize hypothermic (below 20° C. and typically at about 4° C.) arrest and storage in a chemical perfusate for maintaining the heart (non-beating) or other organ (non-functioning) for up to four hours. These protocols utilize a variety of crystalloid-based cardioplegic solutions that do not completely protect the donor heart from myocardial damage resulting from ischemia and reperfusion injuries. The most common cardioplegic preservation solutions used are The University of Wisconsin Solution (UW), St. Thomas Solution, and the Stanford University Solution (SU). In addition to myocardial damage, ischemia, reperfusion and/or increased potassium concentrations may also cause coronary vascular endothelial and smooth muscle injury leading to coronary vasomotor dysfunction, which is believed to be the leading cause of late organ failure. (Ischemia is generally defined as an insufficient blood supply to the heart muscle.)
Techniques have also been developed for perfusing the heart with the storage solution in the hypothermic state. Other organs (liver, kidney, lungs, etc.) have been maintained in a similar, non-functioning, hypothermic state. The heart or the other organs so preserved are then transported in this hypothermic state for only up to four hours until implantation.
As is well known in the art, for optimal donor heart or other organ preservation, the following principles apply and are thought to assist in the minimization of ischemic and/or reperfusion injuries: a) minimization of cell swelling and edema; b) prevention of intracellular acidosis; c) minimization of ischemia and/or reperfusion injury; and d) provision of substrate for regeneration of high-energy phosphate compounds and ATP during reperfusion. The current methods of hypothermic arrest and storage preservation have been shown to result in cell swelling, intracellular acidosis, and a degradation of high-energy phosphates. Moreover, studies in humans have clearly demonstrated significant endothelial dysfunction following donor heart preservation when utilizing hypothermic arrest and storage protocols. In some instances, an organ which has undergone hypothermic arrest is transplanted into the recipient and cannot be restarted or resuscitated after transplantation. In addition, many times inadequate preservation results in acute graft failure and the inability of the transplanted organ to resume normal function and sustain the recipient's circulation. The problem of acute graft failure then requires constant support of the recipient's circulatory system by ventricular assist devices and/or cardiopulmonary bypass until another donor heart can be located. In some instances, a suitable organ cannot be located in time which results in the death of the recipient. There is also increasing evidence from a number of recent clinical studies that the preservation of metabolic, contractile and vasomotor function is not optimized with current preservation protocols. See, e.g., Pearl et al., “Loss of Endothelium-Dependent Vasodilatation and Nitric Oxide Release After Myocardial Protection With University of Wisconsin Solution”, Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Vol. 107, No. 1, January 1994.
Because the art has not been able to store harvested organs at near optimal endogenous conditions, and has not recognized such storage as feasible or desirable, it has attempted to use the above combination of hypothermic conditions and/or crystalloid-based cardioplegic solutions for protection against organ condition deterioration.
Another approach attempted in the art has been to simulate near normal physiologic conditions by harvesting almost all the donor's organs together. For example, Chien et al., “Canine Lung Transplantation After More Than Twenty-four Hours of Normothermic Preservation, The Journal of Heart and Lund Transplantation, Vol. 16, No. 3, March 1997, developed an autoperfusion set-up in which a swine heart was preserved in a beating, working state for up to 24 hours by being continuously perfused with non-compatible blood. While this system demonstrated the feasibility of safely extending the preservation time of the donor heart, this method is far too cumbersome and impractical for widespread use as it requires the removal and preservation of the lungs, liver, pancreas, and kidneys (en bloc) in combination with the heart, all in functioning condition, and all still interacting and interdependent.
There is a need in the art to achieve prolonged ex vivo or extracorporeal preservation of the donor heart or other organ that has been harvested from a donor by providing continuous sanguineous perfusion, while maintaining the donor heart or other organ in the normal (beating or functioning) state. Such a technique would eliminate the need to arrest the heart for storage in a hypothermic environment, reduce reperfusion injuries, and overcome many of the problems associated with hypothermic arrest and storage, many of which are clearly time dependent.
There is a further need in the art to provide an apparatus, method and physiologic media for creating an extracorporeal circuit for sanguineously perfusing the harvested organ at normothermic temperatures (about 20° C. to about 37° C.; preferably about 25° C. to about 37° C.) for prolonged preservation of the harvested organ for up to twenty-four hours or longer. Such an apparatus, method and media would optimally maintain the heart or other harvested organ in the beating or functioning state during the preservation period to insure pulsatile coronary flow and homogeneous distribution of the substrate. Such an apparatus, system, method and media would provide the ability to extend the preservation period of the harvested organ beyond the current four hour limit, while avoiding time dependent ischemic injury and prolonged ischemia, thereby preserving coronary endothelial vasomotor function, and preventing the metabolic degradation of high-energy phosphates.
Additionally, such an apparatus, method and media would allow for expanding the organ donor pool, increasing the histocompatibility matching time, and potentially reducing the incidents of cardiac allograft vasculopathy. It will be appreciated that prolonging the preservation period of the donor heart would have a dramatic impact on the practice of heart transplantation; a worldwide retrieval of organs would be made possible, thus increasing the pool of available organs. Organs would not go unused because of lack of suitable nearby recipients. Moreover, additional time in combination with storage in the functional state would allow evaluation and testing of the organ to determine, e.g., the immunologic and functional characteristics of each organ, thereby allowing a more complete assessment of the organ, reducing the risk of graft failure.
In summary, the prior art has failed to appreciate the feasibility and/or desirability of employing a near ideal physiologic state ex vivo for harvested organs.
This state is provided for by the compositions, methods and systems/devices of the present invention. A fluid or fluid media is provided comprising (1) donor-compatible whole blood (or leukocyte-depleted whole blood) and (2) a storage solution which includes a carbohydrate source, insulin and other hormones including epinephrin, electrolytes and a buffer such as a source of bicarbonate ions. This fluid or fluid media is delivered to at least one major vessel and optimally to the “exterior” portions of the organ substantially surrounding or bathing the organ. The compositions, methods, systems/devices and media of the present invention can thus be employed to provide ideal storage conditions at normothermic or substantially normothermic temperatures, allowing the organ to remain functioning.